Cast Member: Eddie Cheung

At times, the film will have you slipping into a catatonic state and you’ll just be praying for the next bit of action to come along.

‘Breaking News’ is punctuated by tension-filled action set-pieces, but its main draw is the sharp characterisation and the insightful critique of the media that fills most of the running time.

‘Connected’ is outrageously entertaining and maintains its energetic momentum throughout.

While Jiang Lu-Xia is definitely a talent for the future the film itself barely seems to register on the excitement scale.

‘Exiled’ is a riveting portrayal of a group of friends sticking by one another as their once chosen profession threatens to kill them all.

Like most martial arts movies to emerge out of Hong Kong in recent years, there are flashes of the talent involved but it’s not nearly as entertaining as it should have been.

It’s certainly a cut above the standard potboilers and, while it may not stand the test of time, it deserves more recognition than its harsh initial reaction gave it.

This is the kind of stripped down thriller that Hong Kong can still do so well and proof that, while output has become a mere trickle, the quality is still there.

If you like your cop thrillers but want something just a little different then ‘Mad Detective’ has got both bases covered.

It successfully manages to combine numerous genres to create a truly enlightening piece of cinema that shows just how unique Asian filmmaking can be.

A mix of historical drama, romantic melodrama, and frantic wuxia superhero charged action, Yen and his crew certainly go all out to create an epic and kudos to their ambition.

Ringo Lam in the director’s chair should ensure a film that is at least cohesive. ‘Sky On Fire’ shows that this faith in the film-maker may be currently under review as this incredulous action thriller is a messy, wildly inconsistent affair.